Fallout: Equestria - Most Dangerous Game

Chapter Four:

“You worry too much,” Datastream said, leaning back in her stool, hind legs crossed as she munched on a muffin. “The thing won’t let us down, trust me.”

“It’s not that I worry about, Data,” Jade responded, huddled over her coffee like the steamy fluid was her only bastion of warmth on a cold winter’s morning. “It’s everything else.”

Data perked up, ears tall, and face soft. It was an oddly motherly look, one Jade wasn’t so used to. Yet she found it adorable either way.

“You worry about that too much,” the pony stated, jabbing a forehoof at the kirin, and by extension her half-eaten muffin. “The two of us stand at the top of the most advanced project in all of Equestria, what’s to worry about?”

“Most advanced project that we know of,” Jade corrected in a hushed tone, before adding with equal discretion. “But need I remind you that we’re not supposed to talk about it?”

“What?” Jade leaned back, face cool behind her glasses as she pointed at Jade and called. “Hey, we got a super cute nerd here, full of secrets!”

Jade could kill her, all she wanted to do was sink into the café counter and disappear as the few patrons of the roadside establishment all looked at her. There were a few mutters, a cough, but that was about it. Even so, she curled tighter around her drink, forehooves over the back of her neck as she ducked and blushed redder than a tomato.

“Data!” she hissed through gritted teeth, but the blue mare just smirked at her with a giggle.

“See, Jade, no pony cares.” She placed a forehoof on the kirin’s shoulder, that loving smile returning. “You overthink things, and not in the best way.”

“Oh, because you’re the one to be giving advice on overthinking?” Jade countered, shooting her friend a flat look. “You babble on about arcane physics like it’s textbook.”

“What, it is textbook!?” Data flushed, ears folding as she shied away. “Besides, you’re hardly any better with all that logistics junk.”

“Logistics that makes sure you get all the things you need to keep doing what you do best,” Jade responded, taking a sip of her coffee.

“Oh, believe me, work in the lab is not what I do best.” Jade almost choked, battling not to spit out her drink as Data smirked and winked at her before giggling.

“We’re in public! By Luna, are all Equestrian mares like this?” Jade snapped, and it took Data a moment of thought before she nodded.

“Only the one’s worth your time, but come on, sweet flanks…” She pressed a forehoof to Jade’s shoulder again. “Stop acting like the world’s always falling out from under you.”

The crowded chamber swirled past in a blur, while warnings about stabilization and orientation flashed in her vision. Seconds later, there was a heavy crash, wood splintering as metal bent. With a reverberating clang, Jade’s metallic body bounced off one of the stalls and she rolled back under the second balcony, shattering an empty aquarium in the room’s right wall. Dust filled her flickering vision as she sat up, like she were looking from the inside of a faulty terminal, at least until she slapped the side of her head.

“J–Jade… I don’t know how long I can hold the field!” X-23 muttered, and with barely any time to get her bearings, she saw her limbs flicker in and out of reality, right in sight of a lot of very angry-looking ponies.

“What is that?”

“I can hardly see it!”

“Is there something there, I can’t tell?”

“It’s a ghost!”

“Captain of the Alicornia come to haunt us!”

“You superstitious foals, that ain’t no ghost!” Mako called, and cloaked as she was, she saw his dead eye fix on her, while the sea pony was doing her best to get a good view. “It’s some kind of spy, after it!”

“Running now!” X-23 chimed, maintaining little more than a meek patchwork of invisibility as Jade shot up and bolted into the gloomy halls, chanting slavers staggering over the glass behind her.

“Just hold on, we can lose them!” she called, weapon drawn as she broke into a full gallop. “It’s dark in here, just keep going a little longer, we can lose them!”

“You try doing this after plummeting two stories!” X-23 declared, the revelation shocking the synthetic mare to her core.

I fell that far, but I feel fine. Bullets whizzing by her rump made sure gravity was the least of her worries. Okay, less thinking, more running.

There was a sudden sting as one shot glanced her flank, while another shattered glass to her left. Yet as if running on pure adrenalin, she kept going, analytical brain taking corner after corner. Mechanical hooves worked like a train’s engine, powering her over fallen scaffold and toppled museum displays. She skidded left, then right, into a side corridor. It felt far too much like she were back in the tunnels before she finally came to a stop as X-23’s field finally failed.

“I need to recharge, I can’t keep this up,” the suit muttered, while Jade dismissed her own inequine lack of breath.

“You and me both,” she responded, levitating Early Retirement up and watching the dots on her E.F.S as several slavers passed by. “I think we gave them the slip though.”

She hoped she was right about that as she saw two of the red dots double back, lingering at the intersection just ahead. In the same instance, she glanced right, deeper down the dark hall. Like those above, the chipped blue walls were lined with broken aquariums, while shattered displays and exhibits spilled out onto the damp carpet. Most peculiar of all, however, was the odd wall of shimmering magic that spanned the hall. As if formed from pure water, it buzzed and crackled while shimmering with the same rainbow hue as Mako’s throne.

“Hey, think she went down here!?” called one stallion from ahead, and Jade saw their shadows line up with the marks on her E.F.S.

Weapon quivering in her magic, she took a step back, feeling her grazed rump hit the water wall with a static sting.

“Ouch!” X-23 yelped in alarm, summoning a wince from Jade.

“What was that!?” asked the same stallion, only for another buck to respond.

“Go look if you want, I ain’t going down there.” She took another step back, feeling the cold grip of the magical water wall wrap around her rump, while her tail felt strangely dry, as if there were air beyond it. “Anypony who goes down there’s good as dead.”

Wait, what!? They were the only words to radiate through Jade’s mind as one hind hoof passed through the watery barrier, and somewhere on the other side, the floor gave way. Fuck, not again!

She didn’t even have time to scream as she was sucked through the magical field and sent plummeting through the hole in the floor, landing with a disgusting, wet crunch in the pitch-black gloom. Once again, readings flashed in her sight, and for a moment she was sure that wet crunch was her own bones breaking. One blink of her night vision, however, and she realized that may have been a blessing. She’d landed upon a field of skeletons, yet unlike the dry bones outside, these were still coated in sticky, pink gore. Piles upon piles of equine bodies, each looking as if they had the flesh melted from their bones.

She sat up, reflexively retching despite lacking the ability to vomit. No matter where she looked, there were more of them, mounds upon mounds, some dry and moldy, others far too wet and fresh. She dared not turn her lights on, lest she see the endless shimmer of bloody slime. Instead, she took several steps back, feeling bones grind under her metallic hooves. That was when she heard a noise, freezing solid. Whatever it was didn’t appear on her E.F.S as it writhed and slithered amidst the bones like some kind of giant snake.

It was a dull-black, sleek, and wet like an eel. Oily slime dribbled from its surface as it heaved and pulsated, ironically seeming to lack a skeleton of its own. She dared not breathe as the thing reared up, like some huge, sucker-lined tentacle, its tip lined with barbed teeth. As if it were some kind of twisted flower, the toothed petals parted, while a large bulge rolled along its length. It lurched, hacking and writhing, before a slurry of bones and gory slime were disgorged from its maw. Then, as quietly as it appeared, it snaked off into the gloom once more.

“What in L–Luna’s name was that?” she asked in a trembling voice, only when she was sure the thing was gone.

Coated in gore, X-23 said nothing, yet from the blinking red slave collar she saw amongst the new bones, Jade was sure she’d just discovered what lurked under Mako’s throne. The collar was not the only one, she saw many amidst the discarded skeletons, as well as jewelry, rags, and even shreds of armor. Whatever the thing was, he’d been feeding it for some time, and at the revelation she was in its lair, she had to battle not to hyperventilate.

All the while the fear hardly made sense to her mechanical body, as if the two halves of her were at war with each other. On one hoof, she wanted to sink into the walls and disappear, while the other side of her was very set on calculating a way out of the pit. Collecting herself the best she could, she latched onto that more reasonable side, while X-23 softly hummed her coping tune. She had no idea whether the tinny melody was in her head or not. One thing she knew was real, however, was the constant slithering in the walls, as if a whole hive of snakes were coiled around her.

They’re not on my E.F.S, what in Luna’s name are they? She thought, backing right up to the wall, doing her best to ignore the feeling of bloody slime on her rump. There has to be a way out, I just have to find it!

She could only hope that whatever means of escape she came upon, didn’t lead right back to the angry crowd of slavers. Scanning the room, her enhanced eyes made out a bulkhead door behind a mound of bones. Like she was inside of a ship’s brig, the walls around it were fitted with rusty old pipes and valves. She assumed it had something to do with the many lake-sized tanks the aquarium boasted, and creeping cautiously along, she made her way to the door. Each crack and crunch under her hooves made her wince, her synthetic mane prickling with apprehension as X-23 flickered.

A leg bone snapped under her weight, she paused mid-step as something large slithered in the gloom. Yet it was hard to make out the difference between the thing’s wet flesh and the slimy shimmer of everything else. So she took another step, no more than a hoof length away from the door before it shifted again. Almost as if the thing were toying with her, she spun, aiming her pistol into the darkness as her rump hit the bulkhead door. There was once again nothing but that ambient writhing.

“What are you doing, let’s just get out of here?” X-23 muttered, while Jade’s eyes scanned the gory mounds.

“I’m working on it,” she responded, swiftly turning back to the door, shoveling bones aside with her magic. “Sorry, sorry.”

Hooves deep in the sloppy mess, she muttered a small apology to whoever the victims may have once been, all the while their innards and bones stretched like half-melted butter. Seconds later she was staring at the rusty door, wrapping both forelegs around the valve, only to realize things had fallen deathly silent.

Drip… Drip… Drip…

Her ears twitched at each sound, her mane felt like it was crawling with biting ants. Neck stiff as a rock, she slowly turned. Like a slimy wall of black eels descending from a coil amidst the many pipes above, the series of teeth-lined tentacles peered at her with eyeless stares. Their dribbling maws quivered, wide enough to swallow a pony whole, while their bloated lengths were twice as thick. Like a sickly flower, clawed lips lined each, twitching like the legs of some kind of deformed spider. Once again she was pretty sure, invisible, or not, the eyeless things would find her. But before fear could completely take over, she raised her weapon.

Just like under the city, reality slowed to a crawl, right as the things all lunged for her. The process of lining up her shots, selecting her targets, and executing the spell played out like mere muscle memory to her synthetic brain. Dragging the rest of her for a wild ride as the time distortion fell and the weapon flashed with a series of soft bangs. With each shot the tentacles recoiled, squirming as if caught in a painful dance. Hissing, they sank back into the vents above, trailing streams of dark ichor.

“Running now!” X-23 screamed on cue as Jade focused all of her strength and magic on the door, almost ripping the thing from its hinges as she heaved it open and darted through.

Slamming it closed behind her, she fell down with her back to the metal, only to see she was now in a long, silver corridor, coated with slimy gore and bones. As if the thing’s prey had been trying to crawl their way out, skeletons were petrified in creeping poses, mere feet away from the watery wall on the far end of the hall. Just like the liquid barrier above, the thing shimmered and pulsated. So too did the monster beyond the bulkhead slam into the door behind her.

Jade staggered forward, barely able to stay on her hooves as she skidded on the slimy mess. The door crumpled inwards, then the walls around her as if the things coils were wrapped about the room, squeezing tighter and tighter. It bent metal like mere paper, the whole corridor creaking under the strain as the room dented inward like a tin can. Jade hardly waited to find out just how long it would take for the thing to get in, dashing through the wall of water as the snapping tentacles burst through the door.

“Fuck you, you slimy bastard!” she hissed, firing blindly into the corridor, only to have the bullets stopped by the soupy wall of water.

Even so, the beasts recoiled from the barrier, while a series of wicked animalistic groans sounded from deep within the aquarium. Retracting in on themselves, the tentacles retreated back into the darkness, leaving the synthetic mare to stagger back to her hooves.

This magic, it keeps the things in? She thought, daring to press a forehoof to the gloopy, glowing wall. Of course, it bent steel like paper, how else do they keep it in?

The deep growls still emanating through the halls made her wonder just how big the thing was, pretty sure she’d only seen a mere portion of it. The revelation really made her consider just what she was doing, but there was hardly any going back now. She assumed she was deeper in the aquarium than ever, the walls around her were a cold, concrete gray. Drawing her weapon close, she made sure to reload, before creeping onward. Taking extra care to stay on the dry side of the many watery barriers, before finally coming upon what she guessed was some kind of filtration room.

The pumps hummed and buzzed, while torrents of dirty water were pumped into spinning vats, only to be spat back out as clear fluid. The smell of salt was all over, as was the build-up of white crystals on just about everything. Small crabs skittered away at her approach, while shellfish nestled into the damp walls clicked shut. She wondered if she could somehow mess with the system from down here, yet assumed that would hardly do any favors for the aquatic prisoners. Instead, she moved on, finally coming upon a more public corridor, with the uniform walls of chipped blue.

The ghostly glow of murky aquariums set in the walls filled the space, while glancing left and right revealed two long, glass tunnels. Making her way right, she noticed the fading light from above, as if she was now just as trapped in the depths as the golden mare from the show. Kelp shifted as if caught in a light breeze, while lantern fish and eels darted around in the gloom. Giant clams belched streams of bubbles while spiny sea urchins clustered into tight balls. She was sure a few of the fish were not pre-war, pretty certain she’d never seen a tuna with two heads before.

I must be under the main floor. She thought, yet there was no sign of the tentacle abomination in the tank. Damn it, what am I supposed to do now!?

She felt like the biggest fool ever, tricked by her guilt into just getting herself killed. It was as much a waste of Data’s work as simply doing nothing. Slumping against the glass with a huff, she mentally kicked herself over and over, at least until a bright glow caught her eyes. For a moment, she almost confused the golden light emerging from the kelp as some kind of aquatic sun. That was until she saw the beaming ruby eyes of the sea pony mare, her shimmering scales no-less radiant even in these depths. Stunned, she staggered back, while the sea pony peered at her with a foal-like fascination. She cocked her head, Jade did the same, seeing her mouth move with a flurry of bubbles.

“What? Sorry, I can’t hear you?” she asked, pressing a forehoof to one of her ears. “The glass is too thick!”

The sea pony appeared visually frustrated, waving her fins around as her face fell flat. All the while Jade’s mind worked as she tried to make sense of the odd signs the mare suddenly started to make. She waved one fin up, then brought it down on another in a perpendicular motion, before smooshing her two webbed limbs together and flexing her fishy tail. Sign language had never been on Jade’s resume, let alone sea pony sign language! She’d thought they were little more than a myth a day ago.

“I can’t understand you!” she called, and once again the aquatic mare seemed to droop with frustration, before all of a sudden, she perked, nodded rapidly, and jabbed both fins to her left. “Y–you want me to go that way?”

The mare nodded with a flurry of bubbles, while Jade did all she could not to let the prickling feeling of anxiety get to her.

“O–okay, I can do that,” she responded, cautiously trotting her way along the tunnel as it wound along the floor of the tank.

All the while the mare swam beside her, seeming unaware the synthetic equine didn’t need the added light of her glowing mane to see.

She looks like some kind of angler fish. Jade thought, watching the glowing bulb within the sea pony’s mane bob up and down. Maybe she knows how to get out of here!?

Before long she came upon the end of the tunnel, the glass terminating as the pathway led into the sheer wall of the tank. Pausing, she looked up to see the aquatic mare above her, still nodding.

“You want me to keep going?” she asked, and once again, she jabbed her fins forward. “But I’ll lose you?”

The golden mare nodded, then rolled her eyes before gesturing forward one last time and swimming off into the gloom.

“Hey, wait!” Jade called, reaching for the glass. “I have no idea where to go, you know!?”

All she saw in the water was a scattering of small fish as a billowing ray swam through them. She caught her reflection’s face falling flat in the glass, huffed, and marched on.

“Why can’t things just be straightforward?” she grumbled, feeling the moist carpet squelch under her hooves as she once again found herself in a room littered with tanks.

Many of them were no more than dark tubes in the walls, streaming bubbles as more filters hummed, others were shallow pools filled with rocks and open tops. There were many faded murals of happy fillies and colts picking seashells and small crabs from the artificial coastline. While more warned of not feeding the rays and making sure to wash your hooves.

It was all gone now, the happy families enjoying a day out, the fish that they’d come to adore. There was nothing but bones and the bubbling froth of one deep pool at the room’s center. The din of music somewhere above, along with the distant moans of the tentacle monster made her wary of approaching. Yet the only way forward was around the pool, and weapon aimed, she moved slowly.

“I have a really bad feeling about this,” X-23 muttered, shrinking tight to Jade’s coat as she made her way around the water’s flank.

The eruption seconds later almost had her unloading a full chamber. One shot went wild, severing the cords that held a plastic shark above, sending it splashing into the pool. It sank in a bubbling froth, while a golden shimmer rose in its place, and from the mirk poked the head of the sea pony mare. Jade had never seen such a look of glee as she saw on the scaly mare’s face as she paddled up to the pool’s edge and erupted in a bubbly voice.

“Oh my goodness, finally, finally, finally!” She flared her fins, splashing salty spray across Jade’s face as she exclaimed. “After so long, finally! Somepony to talk to!”

Tail kicking, she propelled herself a good few feet out of the water, dancing backward like some kind of show dolphin, before ducking under and reappearing at the edge.

“You have no idea how long I’ve been stuck down here alone!” She beamed, before scratching the top of her head. “Well, there’s the slavers, but they’re not nice. Tribals too, but they kinda just…” She rolled a fin in the air. “You know, all get eaten.”

From the way she muttered that last part, Jade could assume some kind of isolated madness was gripping the mare’s sanity. Regardless, collecting herself and holstering her weapon, she finally spoke.

“Woah, woah, slow down a bit.” She waved one forehoof in the air in emphasis. “Sorry, you’re kinda the first pony I’ve spoken to in a while too, can we just slow down?”

“First pony, what, do I not count?” X-23 asked, humming a sad little tune as she slackened slightly.

“Wow, did your clothes just talk!?” the sea pony asked, jabbing a wet fin at Jade. “That’s so cool. Sometimes the clams and shells talk to me, they’re a riot I tell ya!”

Oh by Luna, she’s a nut job. Jade thought while shaking her head and snapping.

“What no, will the two of you just listen!?” She stomped a forehoof and both the sea pony, and the tightening suit seemed taken aback. “No pony here is actually a pony, but that hardly matters.”

“Wait, you’re not a pony?” asked the sea pony, cocking her head. “Not to be rude, but you do look like a pony.”

“It’s a long story,” Jade deadpanned with a sigh. “Look, whatever the case may be, it hardly matters. I need to get out of here, with the slaves if I can help it.”

“You want to free all the slaves!?” the sea pony asked, seeming overjoyed, before sinking back under the realization. “Well, that sounds like it’ll be kinda hard.”

“Yeah, I’ve been figuring that out on my own,” Jade responded, drawing her weapon as something clattered in the ruins. “But I was hoping you could help me out.”

“I mean I could… Most of the slaves here do kinda worship me for some reason,” the mare said, seeming to think deeply. “But they’re all collard, you take them one step out of here and their heads are gonna pop.”

That revelation made Jade wince, she was sure the collars had only ever been made to shock ponies, not kill them!

“They worship you?” she asked, cocking her head as she recalled the slave mare who’d been fed to Mako’s monster.

“Yeah, tribals around here get me mixed up with some sea goddess… It kinda gets them killed a lot of the time.” She looked genuinely saddened by that, sinking into the water slightly.

“But they’d listen to you, right?” she asked and while seeming unsure, the sea pony nodded.

“I mean, I guess, I’ve never tried,” she confessed with a shrug. “Trust me, if I had the power to kick every slaver here's tail, I would but…” She clutched her tail, wiggling it for Jade to see. “They kind of have me stuck.”

Hence the lack of a collar for her, makes sense. Jade noted, wondering just how they’d even gotten her in the first place. Did they catch her in a net or something?

“Well, how can we fix that?” she asked, and in a flurry of bubbles, the mare perked up.

“You mean, you want to help me get free too!?” Jade nodded, and the look of giddy glee exploded over the mare’s face.

“Oh, yes, yes, yes!” She did a second circuit of happy, dolphin dancing, while Jade lifted a forehoof to protect her face from the spray. “And how do you plan on doing that?”

“I was hoping you had an idea,” Jade deadpanned, feeling a little unsure to find the mare so reliant on her.

Even so, she lifted a fin to her face, seeming to drop deep into thought once again as she sank a little.

“Well, you get me my pearl, that’d be a great step in the right direction,” she elaborated, yet such things went right over Jade’s head.

“You're what now?” she asked, even feeling a shimmer of confusion from X-23. “You’ll have to be a bit more specific.”

“My pearl, it’s in Mako’s throne, you know, the glow-y rainbow thing?” she went on, making odd motions with her fins to describe the glowing sphere.

At the revelation, Jade felt her heart sink, her ears drooping as X-32 shimmered a timid white. She knew exactly what the sea pony was talking about, and it was in about as ideal a place as back under the city.

“What, how in Equestria am I supposed to get that!?” she exclaimed, and the sea pony winced.

“Well, I don’t know. All you’d have to do is get it to me, maybe just throw it over the rim of the tank,” she reasoned, and Jade fought the urge to face hoof.

“If the majority of them are out of the room, maybe we could just sneak in… I’m pretty sure I can manage,” X-23 muttered sheepishly.

“And then what, you think he’ll just let us walk out of here?” Jade asked, and once again the pair fell silent. “We need a distraction, not to mention a way to free the rest!”

“Well, maybe I can bust the water talisman again, that always gets Mako’s mane in a twist,” the sea pony suggested. “Only, he’s locked it behind a grate, I can’t reach it without tools.”

“And I’d find these tools where?” Jade asked, jumping at another creek in the gloom. “You’re not giving me much to go off, Goldy.”

The fish-mare frowned at the improvised name, adding bluntly. “I’m pretty sure there’s some in the west filtration room. And my name’s not Goldy.”

“Then what do I call you?” Jade asked, while the sea pony smiled as if she’d never imagined any pony would ask her that again.

“Name’s Ocean Blaze, Scout Captain of Seaquestria,” she proclaimed proudly, pressing a fin to her scaly breast as she puffed up.

Seaquestria? Right, and the next joke is? Jade neglected to say as much, pretty sure she’d never even heard rumors of such a silly name during all her time in intelligence. What does it matter, we have a job to do?

“Okay, Ocean, I get you these tools, you get the talisman, then I hope I can get you this pearl-thing, then what?” Years of logistics refused to let her go ahead without fully understanding her plan.

Ocean, meanwhile, looked like a giddy school filly at the prospect of getting free. She bobbed and weaved in the water, overcome with joy at the mention of her real name. At least until Jade loudly cleared her throat.

“Oh, escaping, right, right!” she beamed, paddling right up to the glass. “They keep the slaves in the cafeteria, I can see them through the port holes sometimes, it’s just a few doors past the filters.”

“Right, I let them out, then what?” Jade pressed, feeling a flicker of hope that this may work. “Because they’re all already looking for me.”

“Well, I’d imagine that’d mix things up. Mako won’t risk blowing all the collars, too expensive, maybe I can get them riled up from the wave tank, I can talk there if you disable some of the filters.”

“What, like some kind of revolution?” Jade asked and Ocean smirked, making a mock salute with her fin.

“May as well use my goddess status for something.” She broke out into a fit of giggles. “It’d give you time to reach the throne, toss me my pearl, and get the collar switch. Then, boom, bam, bop, we’re home free!”

Because that sounds so easy, not even considering the monster in the basement. Jade really didn’t want to think of the tentacle spawn, so as long as she was off that trap door, she assumed she’d be safe. I sure hope so, what can go wrong?

“You think you’re up for that?” she asked, nudging her own side with a knee, eliciting an eep from her suit. “X-23, I need you on this, okay?”

“Okay, okay, I got your back, don’t worry,” the suit assured her, as she levitated her pistole up, reloading. “Okay then, Ocean, we do it your way.”

She had no idea whether to be thrilled or terrified by the sea pony’s gleeful clapping as she surged up and did a flip.

I sure hope I’m not going to regret this. She thought, scowling at the mental image of a very smug-looking Datastream. I really, really hope so.

Footnote: Level up

New Perk Added: Maybe it’s time to try shooting rather than running - accuracy with pistols is increased while running.